the french revolution

French Revolution Fashion - Modern Balmain

During the 1800’s, men’s fashion grew more than ever. They started to use lavish fabrics and other expensive details in their clothing. According to the book Fashion, the definitive history of costume and style, “men prided themselves on the quality of their wool cloth and the tailoring and fit of their clothes” p184. That being said, of course, outfits wore on special occasions had to be of quality and expressive of wealth and luxury. In the image above, the man is wearing different garments of clothing that have detailed designs and various colors such as beige, blue, and black.

Cossack trousers that were pegged were the trend in the last few years of the 1700’s, and officially became a trend in the early 1800’s. They were worn with such outfits for special occasions. The man in the image above is wearing formal ones with a high-waist cut, their length reaching just above the ground. The shoes worn with those trousers are heeled and shiny with a square front. Although these shoes may not be considered as fashionable for men today, they were seen as extremely classy and no other shoe style could compliment such an occasional outfit better.

Balmain

Olivier Rousteing is a French fashion designer, and is the creative director in Balmain. While Interviewed by a Vogue journalist he states, “Fashion is not evolution but Revolution”. This phrase is certainly true, given all the examples above of how fashion has revolved throughout the years with innovations from different world-wide successful designers. The outfit worn by the male model above on the runway of the Fall 2018 menswear ready-to-wear show is a revolutionized version of the early nineteenth century fashion trend.

The garments designed are each an exceptional representation of the early 1800’s fashion trends; from the lapels on the blazer to the v-shaped design on the shirt underneath resembling a vest from the previous picture above, and the shiny men shoes. Those designs give an imposing and stylish sense. The outfit is elegant and daring, it is extremely fashionable considering the sequin designs on the shirt paired with the shiny vinyl pants.

Of course, fashion is always revolutionized and is constantly changing. Therefore, as much as this outfit represents the early 1800’s, it also has many modern details. The shape of the pants is different and much tighter than the Cossack pants worn by the man in the previous picture. The style of the blazer is also simpler with a straight shape. It is embroidered delicately beside the lapels and on the tight sleeves.

Interested in finding out what Olivier Rousteing thinks of this Balmain collection from the previous blog post?

“I took from Mr. Pierre Balmain. But he said the opposite: fashion was not revolution but evolution. Now, though, things are very different. I think we are all living a revolution, and trying to survive that revolution. You can see from the press and you can see from the designers that there is a revolution happening.”- Olivier Rousteing

Read more on https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-2018-menswear/balmain